Image copyrightPA/Neil PughImage caption
A red sun was spotted in the sky over Bromsgrove in Worcestershire

Image copyrightLudford SunshineImage caption
This was the scene in Ludlow, Shropshire

Meanwhile, hundreds took to Twitter to share their theories and snaps of the unusual red sun and yellow skies.

Using the hashtags #redsun and #ophelia, pictures were posted with earnest tags insisting that: "There is NO colour correction on this image".

As the skies turned beige over London, Hugh Bennett‏ wondered if: "This is what it must have been like living in the olden days when everything was sepia", while James McNicholas‏ blamed "the hipsters" for putting "an Instagram filter" on the city.

'Freaking us out'

But trending alongside #redsun, #yellowsky and #orangesky was the hashtag #apocalypse.

Like many Ben Shephard posted that: "Not messing around this light is really freaking us out!", while Henry Tudor, said: "This weird light is very disturbing. I keep expecting four blokes on horses to home galloping out of the sky."

Elliot Wagland said: "I just looked out of the window and it appears the world is about to end", and Archer Hampson‏ said: "Somebody said we should head outside because the world was ending. We thought we'd take our cameras."

Louise Lucas, meanwhile, wanted to know if she had missed the memo "about going home early due to #apocalypse?!" and Anthony Court posted that‏: "If the world does end -please could it be before 10pm tonight when I start my nightshift."

Image copyrightJan Van der ElsenImage caption
This was the view from Gloucester Docks

Image copyrightBeverley DavisImage caption
The "strange-coloured sun" was photographed over Elkesley in Nottinghamshire